When the news of this affair reached Manila, it aroused unspeakable resentment; and prompt measures were taken to avenge it. Large reënforcements of men and ammunition were despatched under General Juan de Chavez, a soldier of the courage and ability which the occasion demanded.
The Order of St. Augustine—which maintains all the religious ministries of Pampanga except the two at Abucay and Samal, which, however, belong to the actual ministers of the province—was charged to send thither other religious, of unexceptionable character. As such, went the father master Fray Alonso de Caravajal (who was formerly provincial), and the present prior of the Manila convent, the father preacher Fray Diego de Tamayo. These with their discretion and zeal, and the long experience and general popularity which they had in that province, undertook to give it consolation. As a result, in less than four days six hundred soldiers had been recruited to oppose the enemy if they should return to make another attack—which, in fact, was made on Thursday, July 11. The enemy placed in the field two hundred and fifty men, in command of the fiscal, who in rank is third in the armada, to pillage the village of Abucay, and kill the cattle and swine which are usually kept there.
General Juan de Chavez, who was fortified in Samal, was informed of the attack, and despatched ahead a troop under Captain Francisco Gomez Pulido, while he followed with the remainder of his men. They found the enemy in the village, pillaging the houses and killing the cattle. Our General opened fire, and made the enemy retreat toward the church; Captain Francisco Gomez Pulido, with the force under his command, went across the fields by another road, and the heretics were so taken by surprise that they turned their backs and fled to their lanchas. At the same time Adjutant Francisco Palmares arrived on the beach with another detachment of troops from another post, and attacked the enemy, compelling them to return to their boats through water that reached their mouths; they left fourteen dead and two prisoners on shore. The number of killed and wounded by the time they reached their vessels is unknown, but it was doubtless great.
This good fortune, and the grants and favors conferred by the governor, in the name of his Majesty, on the widows and orphans of the Pampango chiefs, who had lost their lives, have somewhat mitigated the sorrow and suffering caused by the late disaster. In order that pious feeling should find an opportunity for expression, solemn funeral rites were celebrated in the royal chapel, by his Lordship’s orders, for the dead Pampangos, at which all the Spanish and Pampango troops were present, under command of their master-of-camp, Don Sebastian de Guzman. The Order of St. Augustine, as the [religious] mother of that people, performed the same rites in the convent at Manila, and in all of the others throughout their province.
Information and statements made by the prisoners of the enemy’s fleet
Through the said two Dutch prisoners was obtained all information that we desired of the enemy’s fleet. These men declared that they had sailed from Jacatra in Batabia, early in March, having been despatched by Cornelio Fandelin,[4] governor of that place, under command of General Martin Gercen [Gertzen?] a Frisian by birth; and that the fleet consisted of thirteen vessels, one of which was lost on the voyage. The voyage lasted three months, and they halted only at Pulolaor for provisions. As for the size of the ships, the flagship is a vessel of seven hundred toneladas; the ships of the admiral, fiscal, and sub-fiscal, of eight hundred; and the others from three hundred to four hundred; and the pataches from sixty to one hundred toneladas. The flagship carries forty-eight guns: eighteen of these are of bronze, carrying balls of eighteen, twenty-four, and thirty-six libras; the others are of iron, with balls of nine to fifteen libras. The almiranta, and the ships of the fiscal and sub-fiscal carried forty, thirty-eight, and thirty-six guns respectively, some of bronze, with balls of twenty-four libras or less. The four other ships carried thirty-libra cannon. The guns on the pataches, some of bronze, carried balls of eighteen to twenty libras. The flagship was also supplied with many devices for using fire, with a German inventor who manufactures them, so that on occasion these could be placed in some one of their smaller vessels, in order to burn our fleet. The flagship left Batabia with two hundred and twenty men, all white, of various European nations, unmixed with men from any of the peoples in these regions; the almiranta and the fiscal’s ship carried each two hundred and ten, and the sub-fiscal’s two hundred; the other vessels seventy or eighty each. The flagship had already lost from its quota seventy men, and the other vessels proportionately, many having been killed in the fight at Cabite and in other engagements; moreover, there is a disease, known as Verber [i.e., beri-beri], which is now prevalent throughout the fleet, by which most of the men have been attacked. The orders carried by the Dutch ships are, to capture the vessels coming from Nueva España and prevent the voyage of those that must go to that kingdom for aid. They were also to ascertain, at the same time, the condition in which these fortified posts are, so that they can prepare for a larger fleet to follow in the succeeding year. It was said that he who will come in that fleet as commander is Antonio Can [i.e., Caan], former governor of Malayo, who had come last year from Olanda, and now is in Jacatra as second in command at that place. The season here will be favorable to them, as the monsoon will give them time [enough], and their provisions will hold out; and within a month four of the said ships will set out for the kingdom of Japon, with merchandise which they are carrying, and will go with the proceeds to the kingdom of Siam. Such is the information which the prisoners have thus far given us regarding the Dutch armada; and it is confirmed from other sources.[5]
Our armada at present is composed of three large galleons and one of medium size, two pataches, and two galleys, with other oared vessels of less size. All hands are at work on it, without any cessation—with eager desires and no less assured hopes, under God’s favor, whose cause this is, of gaining success and good fortune against the heretical and rebel squadron.
Nor can my unskilful pen rightly deny the glory of such a victory, as of all the rest that has been thus far accomplished and is mentioned above, to the prime mover of all the influences and actions of this government—the sargento-mayor and governor of this garrison, Manuel Estacio Venegas, one of the old and prominent citizens of this city, and a brave son of the royal army at Granada. He was chosen by Don Diego Faxardo for these and greater undertakings on account of his honorable, successful, and extraordinary services of thirty-four years in this region in the royal armadas of galleons and galleys, on the Northern Sea and in these islands. In military service, he was sargento, alférez, and captain of infantry; and in political affairs he served as regidor of this city, and as chancellor and registrar of the royal Audiencia—in which latter post his Lordship found him, filling it with approval and distinction, as is well known to all this kingdom. The victories and successes described in these relations are due to his unwearied personal efforts in sending out troops and supplies, and to his thorough understanding and excellent arrangements of all matters. His courage and dexterity in difficulties and hindrances, his subordination and military obedience, and execution of orders given by his superiors, [are all worthy of praise]; for ever since his Lordship placed in his charge the office of sargento-mayor, there have been few nights which he has not passed in the guardroom, or making the round of the city and its walls.
It fell to his lot to destroy such parts of the fortifications as appeared inadequate for the defense of this post and he strengthened the walls with new ones which, it has been said, are without doubt impregnable. I know not which to admire most, the strength of the fortification, or the rapidity with which the work was performed, without any burden or injury [to the people].